The Chicago Cubs have replaced Ted Lilly in the starting rotation with 29-year old righty Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs hope that Zambrano finishes the 2010 season strong so that they can trade him over the winter. Zambrano has pitched in 26 games (10 starts) for the Cubs this year and he is 3-6 with a 5.46 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP. Big Z has allowed 79 hits and he has walked 36 batters in only 64 1/3 innings this season for the Cubs. But, he has also struck out 60 batters so I think his troubles are in his head right now. He still has the talent to excel as long as he can get motivated and stay focused like he has until this year in his career.

The Cubs have tried almost everything to fix Carlos Zambrano this season but nothing has worked to this point. He has pitched in 19 games (6 starts) for the Cubs this year and he is 2-4 with a 6.05 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. He has given up 50 hits and walked 21 batters in only 41 2/3 innings this season for the Cubs. He looks nothing like the pitcher he was in his first 9 years with the Cubs. In his first 9 years with the Cubs, Zambrano pitched in 259 games (238 starts) in which he was 105-68 with a 3.51 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. Zambrano is still throwing the ball pretty well which even adds more to the mystery for the Cubs. If they can’t get his straight soon they might have to start using him as a mop up man out of the pen.

With Ted Lilly ready to come off the D.L. the Cubs are going to shift Carlos Zambrano from the rotation to the bullpen to serve as the Cubs’ new set-up man. The Cubs’ bullpen is in shambles right now outside of closer Carlos Marmol and lefty Sean Marshall so this move definitely makes sense. Zambrano, by agreeing to move to the pen, is proving to be more of a team player than most people thought he was. He has started 4 games this season and he is 1-2 with a 7.45 ERA and a 1.86 WHIP. Zambrano has 26 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings this season so his stuff is still there and he might benefit from the move which is supposedly going to be temporary.

Carlos Zambrano has just not looked like himself so far this season. In his first two starts of the 2010 season, he is 1-1 with a 11.88 ERA and a 1.92 WHIP. His struggles even appear to have hurt his hitting as he is 0 for 3 (.000 avg) with 2 whiffs so far. The Cubs need Zambrano to step up starting this week as he is the only starting pitcher not doing his part to help the Cubs. The rest of the rotation for the Cubs is 1-0 with a 0.74 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP.

Esmailin Caridad, Justin Berg, John Grabow and Jeff Samardzija have all been awful for the Cubs this season. In fact, these guys are a huge reason why the Cubs are 1-3 to start the season. Caridad, Berg, Grabow and Samardzija have combined to work in 9 games out of the pen in which they are 0-2 with a 18.00 ERA and a 3.00 WHIP! If these guys don’t start pitching better soon the Cubs are going to have to make some changes in the pen.